According to a survey of health food stores conducted by Vitamin Retailer magazine, a trade journal in the supplement industry, sales for supplements rose an average 11% in sales as an entire category in 1994. The survey was based on responses by 200 stores that filled out survey forms in the magazine's September and October 1994 issues. Results were reported in the December issue and reportedly reflect sales trends for the stores in the prior 12-month period. The magazine says that the survey has a 7% margin of error. However, considering that there are an estimated total of about 10,000 health food stores in the U.S. (including some 2,000 General Nutrition Center stores), the stores that responded to the survey constitute only about two percent of the total. Therefore, the following data on herbs taken from the survey cannot be considered representative of the entire health food industry. HerbalGram offers this information in this context.

Article copyright American Botanical Council.